Resolutions
By jalpari
"It sounds like you guys have been spending a lot of time together ever since the Avatar came to Republic City."
Suyin handed another cup of tea to Lin as she sat beside her. Lin sat comfortably on her bed, legs folded, leaning against the wall. They had spent the last several hours talking. Something they had never done even as kids. After all the decades of fighting, avoiding, forgetting, they had finally reached a point where they valued their relationship as sisters.
"Yes, I guess we have."
"It also sounds like it bothers you."
Lin looked at Suyin long and hard. No matter how ugly their relationship had been in the past, Suyin had witnessed her relationship with Tenzin from the beginning to the...end.
"I didn't see this coming, Su." She exhaled in frustration.
"After how close we got when I lost my bending, I was just happy to have an old friend back. But out of nowhere, these silly feelings crept up on me. Our time apart helped and I thought I had managed to push past that ridiculous nostalgia. It finally felt like things were sorting themselves out - with you, with the new airbenders. I felt at peace. But then when Zaheer attacked…"
Lin choked and Suyin placed a hand on her knee.
"...he was barely alive when they found him. I felt like I was losing him all over again. Suddenly I had no control over my feelings. I didn't think...when I grabbed him, held him, cried for him. It scares me. We are all in a good place now...something changed in him when he returned from the spirit world and when he heard of the new airbenders. Whatever it was, it's doing him good. And now I...my stupid brain..."
"Lin, it's not your fault. You're not doing anything wrong."
They heard a knock on her door. It was her husband, Baatar Sr.
"Su, darling, President Raiko is here...along with Tenzin."
Lin froze. Suyin shot a worried glance at her sister.
"I'll be right there, dear."
Once Baatar Sr. had left the room, Suyin turned to Lin again.
"Are you going to join us?"
"Why is he here?"
"I don't know. He...they didn't inform us that they were coming. If you want, you can stay here."
Lin nodded in silence as she placed her hand on Suyin's and gave her a grateful and embarrassed smile. Suyin got up to leave but she stopped at the door and looked back with a smirk on her face.
"This is the first time I am seeing you hide from someone...and that too from Tenzin!"
Lin grunted as Suyin chuckled.
"Hello, Suyin! Nice to see you again. Sorry for showing up unannounced."
Tenzin rose as he saw Suyin walk in to the study, feeling a hint of disappointment at not seeing Lin.
"Hello Tenzin...President Raiko." Suyin bowed and took a seat across them.
Her eyes caught Tenzin's as they wandered around quietly. Suyin smiled inwardly and decided to put him out of his discomfort.
"No need to apologize. I was just talking with Lin, she is here on a break as you both must know."
Although Suyin's face didn't betray anything, Tenzin thought her words were directed at him.
He diverted the conversation - they wanted Suyin to step up and take charge of the earth kingdom after the fall of the queen. He wasn't completely surprised when Suyin refused even after Kuvira's insistence. He had known her thoughts on monarchy and politics from the beginning.
They heard the door open and Lin walked in, frowning with her nose turned up as she walked to Suyin's desk. She shot a dagger look at Suyin. Who's hiding now, Su? Suyin smirked and coughed gently.
"Oh good, Lin...you've decided to join us."
Lin grunted and fixed her stare at the wall behind the sofa Tenzin and the President sat on. Tenzin hadn't missed the expressions exchanged between the sisters and wondered in amusement.
"How about we have dinner before you gentlemen have to return to the city?"
As Baatar Sr. led the President out, Tenzin stopped near the sisters.
"Nice to see you, Lin. How's your...vacation?"
Lin shrugged and looked at him nonchalantly, "It's fine."
"Excuse me while I check on dinner. I'll see you two at the table."
Lin nodded as Suyin left them. Tenzin walked closer to Lin.
"I didn't know you were...you didn't say you were leaving for Zaofu, Lin."
"I made all the arrangements before I left, the station is in good hands...at least for a few days."
"That's not what I mean."
Lin's composure began to falter. They hadn't spoken since the defeat of Zaheer. She had stayed long enough only to make sure he would recover. She didn't realize until now that this was the exact situation she had been trying to avoid.
Tenzin stepped closer and put his hand on her shoulder.
"You didn't give us...me a chance to thank you. We haven't talked since…" Tenzin sighed at his loss for words.
"I am so happy to see you and your sister have finally put the past behind. There is so much we need to talk about!"
Lin didn't know how to respond. All her energy was going into keeping her words and feelings in check.
"I just needed...a break."
He felt her voice becoming lower and raspier with each word. He lifted her chin to face him and it was then that he saw the shiny facade glazed over her eyes.
"Lin? What happened?"
"Nothing, Tenzin! Why are you here? Let's just have dinner and end the night already."
She turned to the door but Tenzin caught her by the arm.
"No! I don't understand. We were finally back in a good place, like old times. You have no idea how happy it made me and how much I want to share with you…"
She freed her arm from his grasp and turned around inhaling deeply. He could see the immense energy it took for her to calm her words.
"I just needed some time away Tenzin. I am glad we are friends again, I am so glad you have new airbenders again, and I am beyond happy that Jinora is a Master now...but...I needed time to collect myself after everything that…"
Tenzin waited patiently for her to continue. After several seconds, she looked straight at him.
"I thought you were dying, Tenzin. I thought you wouldn't make it."
It was then that Tenzin understood. It hadn't occurred to him that it must have been hard for Lin to see the state he was in when the airbenders had been kidnapped. It all made sense. He remembered how he felt when he saw her spirit destroyed after she lost her bending.
"Lin...I'm sorry...I didn't know..."
"You didn't need to know, Tenzin."
Her words stung him. She chose her next words carefully.
"You were there for me when I resigned, when I lost my bending, when I needed you the most. It's been nice having my old friend back, and a shoulder to lean on. But when you were happy about the airbenders and when you were badly injured when we found you...I wanted to...be there for you too. But I couldn't...I can't be there for you the way you had been there for me. You have your family for that. And that's fine by me. I just needed time to…"
"Time to?"
She let out a sigh unsure how to answer him.
"It's really nothing Tenzin, I was just really shaken up. So I thought some time with family would do me good."
Tenzin smiled and held her hand.
"You said family."
"Yeah, so?"
"You called Suyin your family."
Lin rolled her eyes as his smile grew bigger.
"You have no idea how happy that makes me."
"It's so good to see you!" Korra ran forward and hugged Tenzin.
It had been several weeks since his visit to Zaofu. Lin was back, the city seemed to be back on its feet, things seemed to be moving in a positive direction for the earth kingdom as well. It was time for him to turn his attention to Korra. It was time to visit the South Pole.
"How have you been Korra? You look great!"
"I feel great! Come on, I want to show you how much better I am doing!"
He followed the enthusiastic girl, this was the Korra he remembered. But things had not gone as she had hoped. She struggled to keep up with the sparring and eventually he had had to intervene and end the training session. He discussed this with Katara over dinner.
"She will be fine, Tenzin."
Tenzin stared quietly at the fire.
"Is there something else on your mind?"
"No...nothing mother. Why do you ask?"
"I heard how badly you had been injured during Zaheer's attack?"
"I am all healed now...wait, who told you that?" He had carefully downplayed the extent of his near death experience when they had spoken.
"Lin."
Lin? Had she visited the South Pole?
As if reading his mind, Katara answered his doubts.
"Linny and me write to each other now."
Linny. A comforting sense of familiarity still lingered around that nickname.
"Well, I'm glad she is reaching out to people again. You...Suyin…"
"You don't seem completely happy with that."
Tenzin let out a sigh finally acknowledging what had been bothering him.
"I guess I am not. It's ridiculous! I should be happy for her. She seems to be moving on, finally freeing herself of the pain. It's nice to see her turn to you and Suyin again."
"But you wish she turned to you as well?"
"I just thought, ever since we reconnected..."
His voice trailed off as he became unsure of where he was going with this. It seemed silly. And selfish. And greedy.
"It's different, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. You both have come a long way even if it doesn't feel like it's enough right now."
Tenzin nodded slowly.
"Do you remember when Toph left? How Linny was the first night?"
Tenzin closed his eyes. It had been a difficult night. He had stayed up all night as Lin curled up in his bed, sobbing.
"She cried all night."
"No, before that."
Tenzin looked at her confused.
"After she showed up at the island that evening, I found her sitting at the edge of one the cliffs. I asked her to come inside, but she told me she needed time. She may have turned to you later, and she may turn to us now, to seek comfort and companionship. But Lin has always needed time alone first, to understand her feelings."
Tenzin sighed. He just had to wait for Lin to be ready to talk to him.
"And what about you, son? Have you taken the time to understand your feelings?"
Tenzin looked away but then everything came tumbling out - the moment they reconnected, the times he had allowed himself to bridge the gap between him and Lin, the confusion that had followed, the new understanding and self assurance he had found in the fog of lost souls, the drastic shift he had felt inside him when new airbenders had appeared. The immense peace and acceptance it had brought him.
He looked up helplessly at Katara, who had sat in silence listening to everything he had rambled on about.
"But when I was near death in that cave, I couldn't help but think of Lin. I had almost given up, I was ready to die. And my heart ached for her to be by my side one last time."
"And what are you feeling now?"
"That it is high time I let Pema in on all these thoughts."